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Building More Strategic Email, Social Media and Blog Content | iContact

Building More Strategic Email, Social Media and Blog Content | iContact

Regular readers of this blog will know I’m a keen cyclist. While I’m not exactly the fastest thing on two wheels, and I would describe my passion using the phrase “lifestyle and leisure” as opposed to “sportive,” I still like to add up the miles and will think nothing of pushing my way north of 50 miles on a weekend ride.

Now that the summer months are with us, I aim to be in the saddle as much as possible and (with the good intentions formed on a sunny morning) have set a goal of cycling more than 500 miles in the month of July.

Five hundred miles might seem like quite a ride (it’s approximately the distance between London and Berlin as the crow flies) but if you break it down, it’s not so difficult.

To reach this goal I simply need to cycle 20 miles over 25 days (giving me six days off). Sounds easy – right?

Breaking this down even further, I can extend my commute into the office from a 15-minute, three-mile route to a more scenic 50-minute, 10-mile cycle along the beach (I live by the coast), making this challenge even more pleasurable. This means I can hit my target without too much impact on my daily schedule around work and family.

So what’s this got to do with email marketing?

My clients tell me that one of the biggest challenges they face is finding the time to create compelling content for the email, social media and wider content marketing campaigns.

Content creation eats up a whole lot of time, and when you factor in everything else you have to do to run a business or marketing department – it can sometimes seem an impossible task.

But it doesn’t have to be this difficult. I tell clients not to look at content as an unsurmountable peak. Instead, they should break it down into bite-size chunks, which makes the challenge look so much more achievable (just like the 500-mile bike ride).

For example, I would never attempt to just sit down and write a lengthy white paper or eBook. There are too many distractions in the working day to contemplate writing several thousand words in a couple of sittings. Instead, I set a goal of just 250 words per day. Sometimes I crush this target. At other times, it can be more difficult. But the main thing is, it is achievable, and therefore I have a better understanding of how long a campaign will take to build, and I can set expectations accordingly.

By setting achievable content creation goals, you will not only produce more quality content on time, you’ll be able to build more strategic campaigns, targeted specifically at your audience and your organization’s needs.